Hurricane Sally impacts Louisiana's Dauphin Island in September of 2020.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana, like the rest of the country, was hit hard in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic. It also was pummeled by hurricane after hurricane and faced a variety of accusations of racial injustice.
The year’s top stories:
COVID-19
The new coronavirus infected more than one in 20 Louisiana residents, killing 6,400-plus - more than one of every 1,000 people in the state. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the economy, including oil, tourism and seafood. Outbreaks sickened people at crawfish farms and in prisons and nursing homes; schools closed. Those flouting emergency public health orders included a minister and his congregation. Deaths from the disease or its complications included those of jazz great Ellis Marsalis and the 2007 Zulu king.Christmas Eve bonfires were canceled. So were New Orleans’ 2021 Carnival and Mardi Gras parades.